Archive for the ‘Weight Loss’ Category

If you follow this program with commitment and determination and put all the elements into practice, you will achieve three major changes in your life:• You will stop binge eating• You will lose weight• You will regain control of your lifeStudies have shown that the majority of people who follow the guidelines that I am about to share with you show great improvement in their control over food. Most stop binge eating altogether. Some find that, from time to time, under conditions of great stress, they temporarily fall back into their old binge habits. These lapses are both short-term and few and far between.As you gain control over your binge eating you will begin to lose weight. It is important to remain patient and stay focused on your main problem, binge eating. Successful weight control is a by-product of your success with binge behavior. Do not get caught up with quick weight loss. You will lose weight, but it will be steady and gradual. Remember: fad, rigid, ultra-low-calorie diets are part of your problem. These diets offer false hope, eventual disappointment, and discouragement. They are your enemy.When you stop binge eating and begin to lose weight you will also notice a drastic change in your life. My program not only shows you how to change your behavior but also how to change your attitude about yourself and your life. You will experience improvements in mood and self-image. You will begin to believe in yourself once again. You’ll regain control of your mind and body. You will begin to care about yourself and your life in a much more significant way. You will begin to take care of yourself and make yourself a higher priority. Your life will take on new meaning, purpose, and passion.Now that you are ready, let’s begin your journey to freedom and self-control.*60\358\8*

As you begin to eat, pay attention to the food in your mouth. What does the physical presence of that particular food feel like in your mouth? What is the texture of the food? Is it hard? Soft? As you bite into it, what is its taste? What flavors are you experiencing? Think about the experience of chewing each particular food. Focus on the act of swallowing. What is the experience of the food going down your throat and into your body?In order to pay so much attention to the details of your eating experience, you must eat slowly. This may be a new experience for you. Most people eat very quickly. Studies show that many meals are consumed in as little as five minutes. Take your time and slow yourself down. This is very important.To convince yourself to eat more slowly you are going to have to convince yourself that eating is an important activity. When you say, “I don’t have time to eat slowly,” you are saying that other activities in your life are more important than eating. This may have been true in the past, but if you want to overcome binge eating, you must change. I realize that you have certain time constraints as well as responsibilities and obligations. I am not telling you to give all those up. I am simply saying that food and eating must have a higher priority in your life than they had previously.*71\358\8*

Popular diets are usually based on weight loss, which over the short term may predominantly reflect changes in body water balance and metabolically active tissue. However, the focus should be on sustainable fat loss. Fad diets are those that cause short term weight losses, but no long term sustainable effects. Like any fad, they go into and out of fashion according to the media attention paid to them at any particular time. As such, they play on the vulnerabilities of the target group, who regard themselves at fault for the long term failure of the diet.

Myth-informations. The idea that fasting helps fat loss and ‘cleanses toxins’ has been clearly disproven. Any weight loss is quickly regained through physiological adaptation and Jew if any of the minerals lost in sweat are ‘toxins’.

Heat pads and electrical devices, although promoted for fat loss, are banned from advertising as such by the Australian Slimming Advertising Code.

Some physicians have experimented with the use of hormones to treat anorexia. Insulin, for example, stimulates the metabolism of glucose (blood sugar). When the glucose level drops, it causes hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), which in turn triggers the appetite center in the brain to send out “feed me” signals. Thus, administration of insulin can stimulate appetite. This technique has largely fallen out of favor, however; among other things, as we have seen, lack of appetite is not the central problem in anorexia.

Recently there’s been increasing interest in the use of cyproheptadine (sold under the brand name Periactin). This antihistamine is used to treat allergies and often causes mild weight gain as a side effect. Cyproheptadine is a serotonin antagonist – that is, it keeps serotonin from linking up with its receptors in the brain. By blocking serotonin, cyproheptadine lets the patient keep eating and thus gain weight. Studies seem to indicate that while cyproheptadine is a little better than a placebo (a “sugar pill”) at relieving depression and at helping some hospitalized anorexics gain weight, the difference is generally not significant. Interestingly, this drug seems to produce some weight gain in non-bulimic anorexics, especially those who were born at lower weights than normal, but not in bulimic anorexics.

Some medications might have use, not for the anorexia itself, but for some of the other physical problems associated with the disorder. For example, many patients relearning how to eat complain that the presence of food in their stomachs causes them to feel painful bloating. This is normal, even predictable, since their bodies have largely forgotten what it feels like to take in food. Anorexia disrupts many of the feedback loops regulating digestion. In some cases, use of medications to speed up emptying might help. Other such medications include bethanechol and metoclopramide. We don’t yet have all the facts we need, however, to use these medications regularly as part of the medical treatment plan. Simethicone, a compound used to reduce gas and found in many over-the-counter digestive aids, can also help relieve the discomfort of re-feeding.

I’ve just given you several pages of information on drugs that have been investigated as possible treatments for anorexia. I must state again, however, that medications have not yet proved as helpful for anorexia as they have for bulimia. In my experience, no medication can substitute for a comprehensive program that addresses the many behavioral, cognitive, and family issues contributing to the illness. At best, drugs serve as a means of temporarily relieving a symptom, of taking some of the heat off the patient, so that we can begin to tackle the real problem.

Lori LaRizzio found the willpower to forgo fast food once her weight-loss success became an issue of pride, money, and her best friend’s wedding.

At age 30, Lori, of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, seemed to have everything: the love of her husband, two great kids, a wonderful career in nursing. But at 5 feet, 5 inches and 205 pounds, she hated her body—and shopping for clothes. To avoid feeling humiliated, she looked at purses and earrings while her friends tried on miniskirts and bikinis.

But humiliation was exactly what Lori felt when she was fitted for a bridesmaid’s dress for her best friend’s wedding. The seamstress shouted out Lori’s 44-37-45 measurements for all to hear. Then she said brassily, “You’ll need to pay more. You’re too big for regular sizes.”

Sobbing, Lori headed straight for McDonald’s to indulge in french fries and a sundae, her favorite comfort foods. But by the

time she got there, she had changed her mind. She bought a diet Coke and drove home, where she immediately called the seam- ^ stress and ordered a smaller size. The woman argued. Lori insisted.

Since her friend’s wedding, Lori’s efforts to slim down have continued to pay off. She’s down to 140 pounds, a weight that she has maintained for more than 3 years.

“Despite her rudeness, I actually have to thank that seamstress,” Lori says. “She catapulted me to a new, healthier way of living.”

WINNING ACTION

Don’t let someone else’s problem become yours. Like Lori, many of us can be so hurt by someone’s cruelty that we feel the need to drown it out—usually with food. Instead of using that as an excuse to binge, slow down and focus on what you need to do at that moment to make yourself feel better, not worse.